Women's Heptathlon

The women's heptathlon opens on day one with the 100 metres hurdles, high jump, shot put and a fast 200 metres; day two brings the long jump, javelin and a tactical 800 metres to finish. Like the decathlon it is contested outdoors, and like the decathlon it is won by range rather than by any one standout event.

The hurdles and the two jumps tend to separate the medallists — they reward the elastic, powerful athletes the event is built around — while the 800 metres can rearrange the podium on the final evening, turning a points lead into a sprint for the line.

World-class totals sit above 6800 points, with the all-time best beyond 7000; 6000 points is a strong senior standard and the usual gateway to major championships.

World Athletics scores every mark with the same shape of formula. For a track event — where a faster time is better — the points are A × (B − T)^C, with T your time in seconds. For a field event — where farther or higher is better — they are A × (M − B)^C, with M your distance in metres. A, B and C are published constants tuned for each event; the result is rounded down to a whole number and never drops below zero.

Add the 7 event scores together and you have the total. The tables are progressive: the closer a mark gets to world-record level, the more each extra centimetre or hundredth of a second is worth — so a balanced athlete who scores well everywhere usually beats a specialist with one huge event and an obvious weak spot.